Efficient isolation of CD8α positive T cells from postnatal mice using a combined MACS approach

Magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) is a commonly used cell separation technique. Miltenyi Biotec has developed an efficient MACS protocol for isolation of CD8α+ T cells from adult mice spleen. However, due to a low percentage of CD8α+ T cells in spleen of postnatal mice, MACS isolation of CD8α+ T cells results in a low purity. Our study illustrates how this problem can be solved by performing a CD45R+ B cell depletion prior to a positive selection of CD8α+ T cells. This protocol can be used when low frequencies of CD8α+ T cells are present in a tissue also populated with CD45R+ B cells, and a high purity is required for downstream applications.